And Then You
by Lena7623
Summary: Several months after the events of the movie Thor, Darcy is driving in the desert when a very familiar storms opens up in the sky and deposits someone. Instead of Thor, though, it's Loki, fresh from his fall from the bifrost (time doesn't run quite the same between realms, plus abyss time). Instead of doing the sane thing and going to get Jane and Erik, she takes him in, alone.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Of all the things that Darcy thought she would be doing at ten at night, she hadn't ever thought that a grocery run would be one of them. Maybe a Taco Bell run when she'd been up for way too long getting stoned with her friends at college, but never a full grocery run. No, she'd had to drive to the next town over, which was quite a ways. Puente Antiguo hadn't exactly been near anything, and, when it was nearly destroyed, that meant that all of the supplies needed had to be shipped in from elsewhere.

Still, Darcy wouldn't likely trade any of this for the world. Well, she'd love it if Thor's brother hadn't shown up a few months ago and tried to level the town in a pissing match and taken out the local grocery store, thus the need for travel, but you couldn't always get what you wanted. She was probably lucky in that the whole town hadn't been completely leveled, and that casualties had been minimal. She'd even gained a pet! The man that she had given Baker to have actually returned him when things had settled and the pet shop owner had said that she could keep him since she had thought to help him get all of the animals out of there. Therefore, there was that.

Of course, she also had to deal with a love sick Jane. Who knew that two people could be so attached after only two days? Darcy never would have guessed that. Now she had a mooning scientist to deal with. Being Jane's little helper elf before had been bad enough, as the woman had a tendency to get distracted by her work for hours at a time, and to not think about things like eating or sleeping, but now that she also had love on the line? Yeah, Jane had almost completely stopped being able to take care of herself. If Darcy weren't' around, Jane likely would have starved to death. Erik tried, but he couldn't compete with raw data. Darcy, however, was great at taking care of people. Well, other people. She hadn't quite pulled off the task of taking care of herself quite yet.

This was why she was doing a grocery run so late at night. They had run out of pop tarts (the main thing that Jane seemed willing to live off) and a few other things around the restaurant that served as the makeshift lab, so she had elected to go out and get them, not thinking of how far the next town was away, or how late it had already gotten. She could have waited until tomorrow, but Jane got extra cranky when her source of energy wasn't around, and Jane was already cranky enough. She was far more worried about dealing with Jane than driving at night.

She should have been more concerned, though. She had put in a full day at the lab, plus going out like this, so she was a bit tired and not really paying attention to the road. There wasn't exactly a whole lot to pay attention to out here. It was just dirt, cacti, lizards, and one straight road. However, when a storm opened up the sky out of nowhere, it caught her attention very quickly. There was thunder and lightning and, despite how she knew that she shouldn't get her hopes up, she couldn't help but wonder if Thor had managed to find his way back. With what he had promised to Jane, Darcy couldn't help but think something had prevented him from coming back. With another flash of lightning, something humanoid dropped in the road directly in front of her. Darcy screamed, swerving her car off the road so that she wouldn't hit whatever it was. She suspected that, if it was Thor, he wouldn't appreciate being hit by a car AGAIN. Not exactly the best way to welcome a guy back.

Putting the car in park, she climbed out and headed over to the unmoving form in the middle of the road. The storm was already clearing, which led her to believe all the more that it was Asgardian in nature rather than just another crazy storm in the desert. The wind was still whipping through her long, dark curls as she moved closer to the person on the ground. She could see right away that it wasn't Thor, as the form was much too lean for it to be the big, hulking blond beefcake. Nothing wrong with lean, as Darcy actually preferred it. She could see from the man's clothing (it was a man, upon closer inspection) that he wasn't from around. His clothing looked similar to what Thor's friends had been wearing when they showed up, if in bad shape. The green cloak on his back was tattered. When she gingerly rolled him over, she could see the dents and tears in his armor as well. His gleamed gold while Thor seemed to have preferred silver as a metal. This guy looked beat to hell, though. Whomever he had picked a fight with, she suspected that he had lost. However, if he were like any other guy, he would likely insist that the 'other guy' looked worse.

"You couldn't drop out of the sky in the middle of town where I could get some help?" Darcy grumbled, more to herself than the prone figure in front of her. She took a brief few minutes to move her car closer to him, and, making sure the passenger door was open, slowly managed to drag him over to the car and prop him up in the seat. "Jeeze, for a skinny guy, you sure are heavy," she grumbled. Thor had been heavier, but she wasn't sure if it had been by much. Then again, she had Erik helping her put Thor into the van, while she was doing this by herself.

The guy was obviously Asgardian, as Darcy didn't know of any other people who dropped out of the sky like this (then again, she hadn't know about aliens until recently, either, so anything could surprise her at this point). He wasn't one of the people that had shown up to 'rescue' Thor, so Darcy had no clue who he was. Still, she couldn't exactly just leave him in the middle of the road. On top of all the other obvious things that were wrong with that, it had to be a massive road hazard to be lying around in the middle of the road like that.

As she started the car and got back onto the road, she couldn't help but wonder just what she was going to DO with the dude in her passenger seat. She couldn't take him to the hospital. Not only was it still being rebuilt on itself, but Thor had torn the place apart last time. There was nothing saying that this guy wouldn't do the same. She thought that she should take him by the lab. Jane was likely still there, if not Erik as well, and she knew that Jane especially would want to know anything this guy knew about Thor. She'd likely throw water on him until he woke up just to ask him about the big guy.

As she's driving, she can't help but notice that some of the superficial wounds on him are already starting to heal up. She remembered that, once Thor had gone all Asgardian, all of his wounds had healed up like nothing. Even though this guy wasn't as built as he was, she supposed that he was made of the same stuff as Thor, same physiology. Still, it was a freaky thing to watch out of the corner of her eye while she drove. She could see why old school Norse people thought that these guys were gods. The man unconscious next to her was certainly utterly gorgeous. If she were a little more primitive, she'd be happy to drop down and worship him.

As she drove, she heard him let out a soft moan. He started to move, seemingly waking up from his 'nap.' "Hey man, how are you feeling over there?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the road for the time being. "It's not every day that someone drops out of the sky in front of a car I'm in. Actually, it's only happened twice now, each time very memorable."

She slowed down the car a little so that she could turn and look at him. At first he looked highly confused, which she supposed made sense, as he likely didn't remember last being in her car. Then, before she could properly react, his face changed from confusion to anger. He reached over and grabbed her by both arms, and she managed to slam on the brakes just in enough time to not completely run off the road and move the car into park before he turned her toward him, pulling her inches from his face.

"Dude, what the hell?" she snapped at him, trying to ignore and he was grabbing her arms hard enough to likely make them bruise later. "I could have ran off the road and wrecked! You're banged up enough as it is."

"Hush, mortal!" he snapped at her. "Tell me where I am."

She took a deep breath, telling herself that he might have thought he was kidnapped or something. "Earth, dude," she told him. "You fell out of the sky in front of my car. I did good not to run you over. Now can you relax a little and let me go?"

He made a face of mild disgust, lessening his grip on her arms but still not letting her go. "Earth, really? Of all the places," he said, seemingly talking more to himself than to her.

"Hey, insult much?" she snapped at him. "I happen to like this place."

"That is because you do not know better, girl," he retorted. "There are worlds much grander than this place." He was staring a hole through her right now, and it made her want to look away, although she was forcing herself to keep looking back at him. It was the stare down of the ages. "I know you. You were with my brother the day that I sent The Destroyer."

Darcy's eyes went wide as her mouth dropped open a little. "Who are you?" she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking and not quite succeeding.

He sneered at her, and she had to bite back a shudder. "I am Loki of Asgard, mortal," he said to her. "And you should be kneeling before me."

"Oh crap," Darcy said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: 

Loki could see that the girl was trying to put on a brave face, but she looked like she was mere seconds away from screaming. He could understand her reaction, however. He hadn't exactly been after her directly, but he wouldn't have cared that day if she had died if she had gotten in the way. "So, you normally send giant metal people off the kill your brother on different planets or was that a special case?" she asked him.

He narrowed his eyes at her, not seeing the point of telling her anything. He would be away from her quickly enough, if he had his way. He didn't want to be anywhere near anyone that was associated with his not-brother. "I sent it to keep Thor and his friends from getting back to Asgard too quickly. It was merely a distraction," he corrected her. Despite sounding sure, Loki knew that it was a weak argument. He hadn't realized that his father had some sort of failsafe instilled in Thor's banishment that would revive him if he died on Midgard, or if he sacrificed himself, or whatever it was that brought him back to his full Aesir heritage. He had told the Destroyer to destroy everything in its path, after all. To claim otherwise now seemed silly. He had been willing to do anything to prevent Thor's return until he had shown Odin that he was the worthy son, and yet Thor arrived early and ruined everything. Something his brother was perfect at doing.

"Well, can't take you where I was going to take you first, obviously," the girl said with a roll of her eyes. He finally let her wiggle out of his grasp and turn back towards the wheel of her car. At his questioning glance, she seemed inclined to continue. "I was going to take you to the lab that Jane and Erik use, but with you being Thor's _brother_ I think that would be an absolutely horrible idea."

"Do not mention that name in my presence," he growled at her, but he could see the logic in her words. Even though her attention was turned back toward the road, he could see her eyes widen a bit when she growled at her, and that made him glad that he could still menace these ants. "Where are you taking me, then?"

He watched her as she chewed on her lip, as if deep in thought. "Guess we're going to my place then." He could see that she had mixed feelings about the idea, and so was he. He didn't exactly relish the idea of being around his brother's mortal friends for any length of time. He reached for the door handle, intent upon getting out and getting as far away from her as he possibly could.

He was surprised, however, when she grabbed his arm and jerked it away from the door. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked her in a surprised voice. He would think that she would be perfectly happy to be rid of him. He had tried to kill her, after all, at least passively.

"Stopping you from hurting yourself worse, more than likely," she snapped back at him. He realized that he must be in dire straits, because he did not have the energy really to fight her, a mere mortal. He slumped back against the seat, content for now at least to stay in the car while it was still moving.

"Why do you care whether or not I stay in your vehicle?" he asked her. "I would think that you would prefer to be rid of me. I did try to kill you, after all." Not on purpose, but that was a minor point just the same.

She shrugged at him. "Just seems kind of rude to leave you lying in the road. Wouldn't want anyone to run over you and mess up their car."

He rolled his eyes. "I assure you, child that I can get out of the way of cars on my own" he grumbled at her.

"Because you totally could have done that while you were unconscious," she said, rolling her eyes. "And if you call me 'child' again, I'll push you out of this car, run you over, and then pick you back up. I know you're like, way old, if people from a thousand years ago were worshipping you, but I'm still an adult, and that's _really_ insulting."

He forced himself to bite back a laugh at her threat. Not because he doubted that she would follow through. Of that, he had little doubt. He was more amused by the detail of it. "Then what should I call you?" he asked, smiling slightly.

He could feel the corners of her eyes turn toward him even as he kept his own forward, watching the desert as it moved by. "It's Darcy Lewis," she told him, her voice a little softer. For some reason, he had the distinct feeling that hers was a name that he'd be remembering for a while, even as he told himself he'd be fleeing as soon as he had a chance.

OoOoOoOo

When they arrive back at her apartment, Darcy's still questioning her sanity. She's almost positive that she's gone insane and hallucinated this entire encounter from after one too many late nights working with Jane, or she actually picked up the murderous god of mischief and she's REALLY gone insane. Darcy's actually not sure which one she would prefer, although it would probably be better for the world if she was just hallucinating after one too many late nights.

She parked her car in front of the tiny apartment complex. Puente Antiguo doesn't have a large population who need things like one bedroom apartments, so the apartment 'complex' only consisted of twelve apartments linked together. Darcy currently inhabited number six. As soon as she pulled herself out of the car, Loki tried to bolt again, opening the car door quickly so that he can run and get away, she supposed. However, whatever his speed normally was, it was slowed enough so that Darcy could keep up with him. She actually launched herself over the hood of the car 'Dukes of Hazard' style (something that's she's INCREDIBLY amazed at later) and grabs him by the arm. When he turns to look at her, likely going to push her off, her instincts kick in and she slugs him in the stomach.

Loki wheezes, dropping to the ground. "You have a strange way of helping someone," he said to her, hand clutching his stomach.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," she told him, shrugging. "If you wouldn't keep trying to run off, I wouldn't be sinking to those measures, though. So really, stop it. Besides, god or not, you're apparently hurt enough that I can get the upper hand on you. That must be really embarrassing."

"You have no idea," he said to her, letting her help him up off the ground this time. Even though he's likely pissed at her for punching him like that (totally only to get him to stop being an ass and trying to run), he seems content to actually let her help this time. She grabs her keys from her pocket and shoves one in the door. Before she can get it unlocked, she can already hear barking inside.

Damn, she forgot to tell Loki about Baker. She actually gained a pet by accident, as, when Loki decided to pull his 'I hate my big brother act,' she helped take all of the animals out of a local pet shop, including Baker, a small black and white chubby dog. When everything went a little back to normal, the pet shop owner gave her Baker as a gift for helping out. As soon as they walk inside of her apartment, and before she can scoop up Baker, he's all over Loki's legs, and Loki is staring at Baker like the one he's the alien from another planet, not him.

"Dude, Baker, bad dog!" Baker has no knowledge of the word, though, so he's perfectly happy to keep jumping on Loki and barking in an effort to get attention. Finally, she bends down and scoops the dog up in her arms, looking toward Loki. "You, go sit on the sofa and then don't move, OK? If I have to chase you down again, it's not going to be pretty." She carries Baker off to her bedroom, grabbing the first aid kit she has put up, collecting dust, before shutting the door and heading back toward the sofa. Thankfully, Loki's done as asked, and hasn't moved from the couch after sitting.

"OK, gonna have to get this armor off of you if I'm going to look at you," Darcy told him. From the way that he's been holding himself, she can tell that he's likely taken some sort of hit to the chest. However, he looks at her as if she's insane when she suggests it. "Dude, don't be such an ass. I'm only trying to help."

"Why?" he asked her, still staring at her like she was an absolute loon, and she's starting to agree with him, honestly. She really should just grab her dog and run away screaming from her apartment and just let him have it. Obviously, she has no self preservation, because she doesn't do that. Instead, she starts pulling on the ruined armor, pointedly ignoring the question until he repeats it, grabbing her hands and making her stop moving.

Before she can answer, though, someone knocks on her door and, from her bedroom, Baker went insane again. He didn't appreciate being locked away in the first place and someone knocking now is only making it worse. Despite the barking, she can hear Erik's voice on the outside, and she remembers that she told him to meet her here around this time to pick up the groceries that she went out of town to pick up and all of reality comes crashing down on her in just enough time for her to remember that she didn't lock the door and the knob's turning.

"Pretend that you're a friend of mine," she hissed to him. She could see the protest on his lips and she managed to wrench her hand free to cover his mouth. "Would you rather tell him the truth? He's just gonna call SHIELD the iPod stealers," she snapped at him. She managed to get a curt nod out of him just as Erik opened the door, walking in on Darcy's sitting on a sofa with a now shirtless Loki. She's just glad she got him out of the most obvious armor.

Erik takes a good look at her sitting on a sofa with a half-naked man and immediately blushes. "I didn't realize you had company," he said quickly, turning away.

Darcy rolled her eyes. "SO not what you think," she said quickly. "It's just a buddy of mine from Arizona State. He dropped in on me as I was coming back into town." She jumped up off the couch. "Erik, this is Jeremy, history major of Arizona State. Jeremy, this is Dr. Erik Selvig, super duper astrophysicist that I'm doing my internship with." She smiled a wide, nervous grin as Loki waved mutely from the sofa. "Don't worry about him, Erik. He's in a fight club, but we can't talk about it, or we're breaking like, the first three rules or something, I don't know. Why don't we get those groceries?" With that, she yanked the confused older man out of the apartment, praying that she didn't come back to an empty one. At least if Loki was there, she didn't have to worry about him wandering about doing god knew what.

"So...your friend dropped in on your shirtless and beaten up?" Erik asked as she dragged him outside toward her car. She hadn't even locked her car. Not that there was any real reason for to lock stuff up around here. There were like, four hundred people in this town, tops, and all of them were decent human beings. Now she just had a mad god in her apartment, so they weren't exactly safe for long.

"Well, he wasn't shirtless. I made him strip down so that I could do the first aid thing," she explained as she opened her trunk and started grabbing bags to put in the van that Erik had shown up in. "Honestly, I think he got drunk and got in a bar fight. Totally not the first time that it happened," she said. She hoped that she was making some sort of sense.

"Does he usually drive across the state while drunk to drop in on your after a bar fight?" Erik asked. She gave him another one of those tense grins. "You have strange friends, Darcy."

"Seriously, you have no idea," she said with a sigh.

It actually didn't take her too long to get rid of Erik. He was only supposed to come by for the stack of groceries, after all. When she went back inside of the apartment, Loki was still sitting on her sofa, still shirtless, although now Baker had somehow escaped the confines of her bedroom and was now sitting on Loki's lap, asleep and looking as content as he could be.

"Your dog seems to like me," Loki said, reaching down and petting the animal behind his ear. Baker grunted in his sleep but otherwise didn't do anything.

"That's good. I'd rather him not sit around and bark at you all the time," she said, sitting back down on the sofa. Loki was covered in cuts and bruises, but the biggest one was a giant square shaped one on his chest. "Dude, seriously, did you get hit by a truck or something? What the hell caused that?" she asked, ghosting a finger over the giant purple bruise as she grabbed the kit so that she could at least clean up the cuts. She had the feeling that they looked a lot worse when he had landed. He'd likely be mostly fine by tomorrow, although he'd still at least hurt like hell.

"A rather lengthy battle with Thor," he explained to her, now finally not fighting her in any way as she started to clean him up. After getting the cuts on his arms and chest, she moved up to one on his face, just under his left eye.

"You guys have bizarre forms of family therapy," she remarked. "So, I convinced Erik that you're a friend of mine from college. I have no idea how much he really believed me, but I highly doubt that, no matter how much he questions it, he'll guess who you're really are anyway."

"Does this mean that I have to stay?" Loki asked her. He flinched slightly when she started cleaning the cut on his face. She could tell that he was trying not to show how much pain he was in, but she was guessing that, along with all the cuts and bruises, he likely had at least a few broken ribs as well.

"Well, I'd appreciate it, since I saved your ass and all that," she said to him, grabbing a bandage and putting it over the cut. "Come on, like it's gonna hurt you to hang around for a few days and pretend to be my friend so that Erik doesn't get freaked out and think that you're someone else."

"I believe that would be more your problem than mine, if I decide to flee," Loki said quickly, even as he appeared to be in no hurry now to get off her sofa, much less escape. He didn't even seem inclined to move Baker now.

"Like it would kill you to get more rest, anyway. You look like ass," she told him quickly, grabbing the first aid kit and putting everything back into it.

"You fall into an abyss of space and then slam into the ground and see how good you look," Loki remarked, looking away from her and all but pouting.

Darcy had to laugh at that face. "All the more reason for you to hang around and rest!" she said, grinning at him. "You get the couch, though. Not sharing my totally awesome bed. I'm totally not that kind of girl, you know."

He looked at her, bewildered as she got up off the sofa. Before he could say anything, though, she went off and grabbed a pillow and blanket for him, bringing them out and setting them on the sofa for him. "If you promise not to disappear before morning, I cook a wicked breakfast."

As she turned and went to her bedroom, she wondered again why she was doing this. The easy answer was to say that it was better to keep him in her apartment than to have him roaming off by himself. However, but she knew that didn't hold weight because what she should have done was told Erik who she found and let him call SHIELD. They could likely deal with the angry god. Yet, when she looked at him, she just...couldn't do it. Despite being insanely dangerous, she felt somewhat bad for him, too. He definitely did the pathetic look well, whether intentionally or not.

She just hoped that someone put that on her tombstone if he went nutty and killed her: She felt bad because he looked pathetic.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: 

Loki had intended to be gone before the mortal woke up in the morning. What he truly wanted was to get as far away as possible so that he could plot in peace. He had the distinct feeling that he would get absolutely no peace around this woman who seemed to prattle on as if she actually couldn't control what came from her mouth. However, when he first felt the stirrings of consciousness on the sofa, he could hear her voice as she sang to herself as she moved around the small kitchen that her home had. Damn...he supposed he could put up with her long enough for a meal. He couldn't even remember the last time he had eaten anything.

He sat up and opened his eyes, immediately wincing in pain as he slowly moved. He had thought that he would be more healed today, but it seemed that having Thor's hammer laid on his chest was going to take longer to fix itself than he might have suspected. It must have something to do with its magical nature. He shouldn't still have this large bruise on his chest, much less still be feeling the pain from it.

"Oh, you're awake!" Darcy's cheerful voice chirped from the kitchen. He turned toward her, looking her over. "I'm making waffles, so I hope you have an appetite." She turned back toward the stove, and he took the opportunity of not having her looking at him to study her. She was fully dressed in what he assumed were adequate clothing, but the baggy layers that she wore did absolutely nothing to enhance any beauty that she might have. She was attractive, he supposed, but it was hard to tell what she really looked like with her face hidden by her glasses and any hair that happened to fall in her face. He wondered if she ever wore anything a little more form fitting. He remembered what she looked like through the red haze of the Destroyer and that she had worn similar clothing then. He thought that she might look much more interesting if she wore something like the women in the Asgardian court wore. It would certainly give her a different look.

"Hey! When you're done staring, waffles are done," Darcy said to him, shocking him out of his musings.

He made no apologies for staring, simply slowly pushing himself off the sofa with a bitten back groan, walking toward her small dining table and sitting down in one of the chairs. She made up a plate of the 'waffles' squirting some sort of white topping on them after dropping several types of berries on them, setting them down in front of him. "If you don't eat them, I'll totally be sad and pout at you," she told him, giving him an example of the 'pout,' which looked like the most exaggerated facial expression ever, which made him smile ever so slightly despite not really wanting to.

He took a bite of the breakfast that she had made, and actually found it to be quite delicious. However, he did not want to give away how much he had liked it (or how hungry he was), instead calmly taking bites between sips of drink that she had also provided. After eating in silence for a few minutes, he finally asked her, "Do you usually make things like this for yourself?" he asked her.

"Well, I don't usually make as much," she admitted with a shrug. He watched her as she broke off a piece of one of her own waffles and handed it to her dog, who was begging at her feet. "But yeah, breakfast is an essential meal. I'm usually in the lab with Jane for like, twelve hours a day. I've gotta have tons of energy to manage to keep up with her."

"It would seem like the focus of Thor's affections keeps you very busy," Loki remarked. "What sort of work do all of you do?" Even with the bit of watching that he had done, he had to admit that he had no clue.

"Now? Actually, looking for a way for Jane to reunite with her paramour," Darcy said, looking away as she said it. "Not that we're doing any good with it. Just because Jane was the first on Earth to really realize that it was possible doesn't mean that anyone knows how to actually do it."

Loki could explain it to them easy how to do it, but he certainly had no want for Thor to be around here. He was already going through much effort to continue to hide himself from Heimdall's gaze. As long as he stayed away from this Jane too much, it shouldn't be too noticeable. They likely thought him dead, anyway. It was pure luck that the abyss went to Midgard rather than some god forsaken realm.

"Well, I should go," Darcy said as she finished her meal, standing up. "I really feel like I should just call in sick so I can watch you. If you try to flee, you'll likely just hurt yourself more." He hated that the mortal had a point, but she did. She walked with her dish over to the sink, rinsing it before setting it aside. "Try not to do anything too...mischief-y while I'm gone." He could only laugh at that suggestion. "God that does not make me feel better."

Soon she was out the door, and he actually did briefly think of running, but where would he even go? He had no base of operations here on this realm. Why not let the little mortal take care of him while he licked his wounds and planned. He could possibly even use this Jane to get back to Asgard and take his rightful place on the throne when he was ready. He had done nothing wrong while ruling, after all. They were at war. He was just being preemptive. He should have been congratulated, not discouraged. He thought ahead, unlike some blond headed idiots who shall remain nameless.

So, instead of fleeing, he instead borrowed Darcy's shower, rinsing away the blood and grime that she didn't get to wipe away last night (he had only let her touch him as much as absolutely necessary). It didn't take him long to figure out, although he still preferred the hot springs of ho...of _Asgard_ rather than these Midgardian contraptions. They were claustrophobic.

He didn't do too much to her home while Darcy was away. He _might_ have changed where a few of her things were, more to keep him from dying of the boredom than for any real need for mischief. This might drive him mad more than anything else he had been through.

When Darcy did finally arrive back at her dwelling, Loki was still wearing the ruined clothing that he had come to Midgard with, even his tunic was torn and stained. Darcy was carrying several bags when she arrived, and he arched an eyebrow at her, curious to see what she might have. She just grinned at him and dumped the bags at his feet. "I bring you clothing that is not ripped to ass," she explained. "Not that leather isn't wonderful on you and all, but it doesn't exactly breathe, you know? You're going to die in the desert if you don't start wearing other stuff."

He peeked into one of the bags, seeing the shirts and jeans that the males of this realm (when he had done some spying) seemed to prefer. He was pleased to note that she had stuck to choosing him greens and blacks for covering, even some white that made him think of his mother's robes, although he doubted she would have known that. "Sorry that they aren't exactly top quality, but I'm working on an intern's budget here, this is like, next to nothing."

He arched an eyebrow, turning his attention back to her. "Then why would you go out of your way for me, since it inconveniences you so?" he asked, curious.

She just shrugged at him. "You can't walk around in just that stuff all the time. I got you what you needed. Simple as that."

He blinked at her, still not entirely sure what to make of this mortal. He had went through his life assuming that so many people were only nice to him because he was a prince, because he was Thor's brother, or they wanted him to do something for them. He kept expecting Darcy eventually to show that she had some ulterior motive. Finally, he stood, taking the bags of clothing with him. It would be nice to wear something clean, even if it was clothing from this realm. "Thank you for your generosity," he said stiffly before heading away to her bathroom to change. He missed the slight smile on her face as he walked away.

When he returned (now wearing a pair of black jeans and a green shirt), Darcy had settled onto the sofa, her dog in her lap. The small animal had followed Loki around all day, as if it had no reason to believe that Loki might not want its constant attention, but eventually he had gotten used to the creature known as Baker, and the dog had spent much of its time in Loki's lap when he sat on the sofa. Darcy grinned up at him when he entered the room. "Looks good on you. I'm glad that I guessed your size right. I had to go for the longest jeans that they had in the place."

He nodded. "You did well. This clothing will suffice." He knew that letting servants know that they did a job well meant that they would repeat it.

He couldn't help but notice that she looked especially nice when she gave a full smile instead of the slight smirk that seemed to stay on her face. Shaking his head, he sat down on the other end of the sofa from her. He would have picked a different seat, but it seemed that this was her only seating in the living room. The dog Baker rose up from his place on Darcy's lap, trotting over on the sofa and then plopping down into Loki's lap. He forced himself to bite back a smile when she giggled. "I think he likes you," Darcy remarked. Now completely unable to help it, Loki smiled slightly, reaching down and stroking Baker behind his ears.

"It seems that he recognizes regality when he sees it," Loki remarked, letting himself smile wider as the dog huffed, rolling onto his back and exposing his stomach to be scratched, which Loki obliged him with.

"So, exactly why did you fall from the sky, anyway?" Darcy asked, and the smile fell from Loki's face. He wasn't entirely sure that he ever wanted to talk about that with someone else, much less a lowly mortal like Darcy. "Did you get exiled, too?"

The only reason that he was able to stay calm at all was because he continued to stroke the dog. He found that it was relaxing. He took a deep breath, trying to cool his temper. "Not exactly," he finally said. "I fell from the bifrost." He let go of Gungnir, just absolutely determined to not live anymore and drop into the abyss. "I didn't even realize where it had opened a hole to. I am lucky that it was here and not some...less hospitable world."

Darcy chuckled. "You didn't seem that happy last night," she pointed out to him, rising up from the sofa and moving closer to him. When he flinched, she rolled her eyes. "Come on, now. I just want to check and make sure that you're healing OK. I know, you got that super healing alien body and all, but let's keep up the pretense as to why you're staying with me, right?"

Her words caught him so off guard that he didn't have a chance to move away before she was pushing up his shirt to check where the majority of his injuries was, his chest. "Wow, you're all yellow and purple," she mused, her fingers reaching out and gingerly touching his ribs. He winced, keeping in a grunt of pain. "Looks like these are doing better, though. They were broken last night." Her fingers hit the edge of the massive bruise that was left from Thor's hammer. "What the hell exactly caused that? Did Thor head butt you or something?"

"Thor's hammer. He laid it upon my chest to keep me from moving," Loki said stiffly.

"Oh mew-mew? Tough luck there, dude," Darcy mused, pushing his shirt back down. "Then again, totally tried to kill us, so you kind of deserve it. Why were you trying to kill us again?"

"I can only presume you mean Mjölnir," he corrected dryly. "I wasn't trying to kill you, but simply keep Thor from returning to Asgard," he insisted again. He realized that it still rang as a hollow excuse, but it was one that he would stick with. "I was disposing of an enemy of the kingdom that had been a thorn in Asgard's side for a long time. I knew that Thor would stop me. He's a bit soft hearted at times. His time on Midgard made him even more so."

Darcy snorted, rocking back on her heels and squatting on the floor for a moment. "If that's really the case, you can blame Jane for that. They fell for each other pretty quickly. Like, three days really quickly. Do all of you in Asgard work so fast, or is he just a playboy?"

"I have no idea what you mean by playboy, but Thor has always had a way with women he desired," Loki remarked. "It seems to be one of his...talents."

"So not shocked to hear that," Darcy said to him. "That Asgardian healing really is something. Wouldn't think that a person could fall millions of billions of miles without, you know, cracked open like a raw egg. You got away with like, minor damage."

He blinked when she changed the subject again. It was actually hard to keep up with everything that she was saying. "It does not feel like minor damage," he said to her. He decided to ask something that had been bothering him all day. "I am well enough to make my way out of here, and yet you have not encouraged me to leave. You even do nice things and bring me clothes so that I need not wear my tattered armor. Why do you still help me?"

She stared at him silently for a moment, studying him to the point where he almost begged her to say something to end it, when she ended it before he started. "No one should feel like they have absolutely no one that they can turn to, even when they make mistakes." She stood up, patting him on the shoulder gently. "Even big ones like trying to completely wipe out an enemy in a way that suggests something along the lines of genocide, if I'm reading between the lines correctly."

He frowned, realized that she was smarter than he had given her credit for. He had not said exactly what he had done, using vague language, but it seemed like she had figured it out anyway. "Do you feel any remorse, for what you did?" she asked him.

He did not even think on it, shaking his head. "I did what I did in times of war. There are different rules then."

She sighed. "Those rules don't get to apply when you create the way yourself," she told him, moving away. She headed toward the kitchen. "So, I'm not the greatest cook in the world, but I can put us something together. What do you want for dinner?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: 

Darcy had to admit that, when Loki was settled enough, he was actually engaging to talk to sometimes. One night while she was cooking, she got him to tell her a story about the origins of the universe, and it was actually really awesome to hear. He was a god, or an alien, or something more powerful than she was, so she assumed that his story might actually be right, but who the hell knew? However, when she asked too much about his past, or guessed something too correctly, he would turn dark and either stop talking or, like one time, shout and scream and throw things. The man was a picture of bipolar disorder. She only had to take one semester of Psych 101 to realize that.

She snagged a book on Norse mythology from the local library, deciding to read it while she worked at the restaurant. She did have bits of downtime while Jane ran tests and didn't have anything for her to write up or file or something.

"What are you reading?" Jane asked, startling Darcy out of her reading. Darcy flipped the book slightly so that Jane could see the cover. "Reading up on Thor and his family. There are some crazy stories in here about them all, Loki especially."

"Well, we don't know what of that is truth and what of that is false," Erik said, walking inside with their lunch. For some reason, he had wanted to go out and fetch it from the diner today. Saying something about needing the exercise. "Thor told me that some of the stories were mistakes and outright lies."

"What about the one where he had to cross dress and marry some dude to get his hammer back?" Darcy asked.

"I actually asked him about that," Erik admitted, laughing. "He said that it was unfortunately true."

"God, with that beard? How did he manage to pass for anything resembling a woman?" Darcy asked with a laugh. "He's a hot guy, but he had to make one UGLY woman." Loki at least had a slighter build, but even he gave off an air of manliness that wouldn't help him with the cross dressing, either.

"Speaking of men," Jane drawled out with a grin, "Erik told me that **you** have one in your apartment from college."

Darcy turned and glared at Erik. "You told!" she shouted, wanting to throw her book at him.

He seemed to guess, ducking behind one of the tables. "You didn't tell me not to! Why are you hiding him away, anyway? Do you not want us to meet him? Embarrassed at working with us?"

He was teasing, but Darcy was still mortified. "No!" she protested, marking her place in the book and setting it aside. "You'll likely smother him or something," she explained quickly. She could hardly admit that she was kind of taking care of the guy who had leveled their town. It seemed insane, especially to her, that she was doing it, but she had kind of a caring nature. She didn't have the heart to push him out of her home.

If anything, that would likely make him act worse.

"We wouldn't do anything like that!" Jane protested. "That doesn't mean that we don't want to meet him, though." Darcy grimaced, knowing what was likely to come next. "Why don't you bring him to the bar tonight? It's the weekend, so we don't have to work tomorrow or anything."

Darcy knew that, if she protested too badly, they would want to know why, but there was NO way that this would end anything but badly. She sighed. "Let me ask him, OK? He may not be up to it."

"Not up to getting into another bar fight then?" Erik asked with a laugh, finally coming out fully from behind the table. "You have interesting friends from your college, Darcy."

"Oh yeah, we're regular party animals," Darcy said, wondering whether or not she could pull this off without it all blowing up in her face.

OoOoOoOo

When Darcy made her way to her apartment after another twelve hour day (Jane would one day have to be explained to that, while she could run on old coffee and Poptarts until the end of time, some people were human and could not), the last thing she wanted to do was ask Loki if he could behave himself long enough to do one night with Jane and Erik without going insane or blowing the cover that she had so nicely set up for him.

As she walked inside, she realized that the place was clean, cleaner than she usually kept it. "Did you clean?" she asked in disbelief, looking over at Loki, who was sitting on the sofa.

""One of us should, and I can do it with magic," he said to her, not looking away from the TV. She couldn't help but realize that Baker truly had seemed to have adopted Loki, as, whenever she came home now, Baker was always curled up in his lap. It was one of the things that told her that, deep down, he couldn't be a complete evil nut job. Dogs hate those. That was just a fact.

"Right...well, thanks for that," Darcy said, mostly still in shock that a prince of a different world would even think to do the dishes, much less set about doing them. Sure, he didn't have to _touch_ them or anything, but it was still weird. "Anyway, I kind of need a favor."

That did cause him to turn toward her, eyebrow raised at her. "I thought that it would only be a matter of time before you needed my services for anything," he said, sitting up stiffly. "I suppose I do owe you. What is it that you need, Darcy?"

"It's not like that!" she protested. "You're acting like I'm asking you to kill someone for me, which I'm totally not, by the way." She leaned back against the door, trying to think of a way to phrase what she needed that sounded the least bit ridiculous. "You remember Erik, from the first night you were here?" When he nodded, she continued. "Well, he told Jane that my 'friend from college' was here, and now they're both dying to get acquainted with you. It's annoying and I wish that they wouldn't, but they'll totally annoy me until they get to meet you, so either we do it on something of our own terms or they drop by when we least expect it." She hadn't meant to word vomit all over him, but this whole idea had her feeling a bit nervous.

He stood up, slowly making his way over to her. "Why should I do this? It will only be an inconvenience, especially since everything we tell them will only be a lie."

It wasn't that he didn't have a point there, but more that she was already annoyed and not really in the mood for another insisting person. "Did you miss the part where I said they'll just drop by and bug the shit out of both of us?" she asked him, pressing herself a little more against her door when Loki stepped closer to her. "Besides, not like you have anywhere to go, so why not do me this little favor?"

Something about that little exchange apparently pissed Loki off, because he pushed himself against her, pinning her to the door. He more startled her than hurt her, causing her to gasp as she hit the door, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to move until he wanted her to. "I could simply kill the three of you and not have to deal with this at all," he hissed, bending down so that he could say it in her ear. "Tell me why I shouldn't do that."

Even though her body was shaking and her mouth felt too dry to form words, she could hear herself saying, "You wouldn't hurt someone that's done nothing but help you, Loki." Her voice was actually a lot steadier than she would have expected. She turned her eyes up so that she could look at him, and **god** he was far too close to her right now. She could easily get lost in the sea of green that was his eyes. "You know you don't want to hurt me. Now come on and help me with this, please?"

He seemed to be stunned into a silence for a moment, but he at least backed off of her enough so that she could catch her breath and not be completely caught up in the completely dizzying spell that was Loki stepping way too close into her personal space for her sanity. "Honesty time, oh God of Lies," she said, hoping that what she asked him next wouldn't just anger him again. "Anyone ever just try to help you before?" He seemed to have been expecting far too much for her to ask some big favor of him. Maybe her asking anything at all had set him on edge.

"No one does anything for me without wanting something in return," Loki said to her, his eyes still on her. "They always want some bit of information, or want me to do something, or encourage someone else to do something."

Even though now she technically could move, his eyes on her like that still have her frozen in place. "Yeah well, I just want you to go out for drinks with me," she said. "Play nice for my coworkers. Nothing nearly that hazardous." She sighed. "Where you're from must suck if everyone only do things for you when they want something."

"It does," he admitted, and she realized that he must have learned that word from TV. He did watch an awful lot of it. Finally, he pushed away from her completely, turning away and she finally felt like she could relax a little bit. Loki was a very intense person, and it was freaky to have that intensity turned on her in any way.

"So, you normally get that snippy when someone stands up to you a bit, or am I special?" she asked, nearly covering her mouth with a gasp when she said that aloud. That was really supposed to stay in her head.

Thankfully, it seemed that the crisis was truly averted, because he just chuckled. "It must be you and your special way with words," he remarked, not turning around to her.

"Nah, I bet you're that way with everyone," she said, smiling with just a touch of nervousness. "You seem like a control freak like that."

"I don't know why I put up with you," he muttered as he grabbed some clothes, obviously going off to change for their night at the bar. "You're an infuriating creature."

"Obviously you must totally adore me, because otherwise I don't get it, either," she said with a smirk, and was rewarded with a quizzical look and a huff before he stomped off to the bathroom. Score one for Darcy, obviously.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy and Loki managed to put together a decent cover story before making their way to the bar. She had ended up calling Erik and Jane and letting them know that they were on. She was still sort of amazed that Loki had seemingly agreed to come along for this, considering the snit fit he had initially thrown. She wanted to keep it pretty basic, although she had the feeling that Loki could handle remembering anything that she could make up.

She didn't remember buying the particular clothes that Loki was wearing tonight (she had admittedly raided a local Goodwill to get what she needed for him), but she had to admit that he looked really good. She thought that the black leather pants might be part of what he had been wearing when he fell to Earth, but she knew that she hadn't bought the black v-neck long sleeved shirt that he had worn. Actually, it looked expensive as hell.

When they arrived at the one bar in the town, Erik and Jane were already there. They hadn't bothered to change clothes, and neither had Darcy. She didn't know why Loki had bothered, other than to show off. He seemed like the type that wanted to show off, after all, plus, the whole 'god' thing.

"Hi guys!" Darcy said with a wave as she walked up to the table. "This, obviously, is Jeremy," she said with a smile. He reached out and shook both Jane and Erik's hands, now simply able to pour on the charm. "Jeremy, this is Jane and Erik, who I work with."

Jane and Erik had left one side of the booth open for the both of them, and she slid into it on the inside. Thankfully, Loki didn't seem to think twice about sliding in next to her, or it might have looked weird. They were supposed to be friends after all. They were at least friendly, you know, most of the time when Loki wasn't throwing a bipolar fit, but they hadn't known each other long enough for anything else, right?

"So, Jeremy, how long have the two of you known each other?" Erik asked. She knew that Erik was a little suspicious of what was going on, since he had gotten to stumble in on them when Loki was still mostly a giant bruise, which was weird even on the best of days.

Darcy was going to answer, but Loki beat her to it. "We actually shared a freshman English class together," he explained. "She talked my damn head off, and we kind of became inseparable ever since."

Darcy giggled, but she couldn't help but inwardly wonder where he had learned enough about college to be able to speak with any sort of certainty. TV could only teach him so much. Maybe he played around on her laptop, too? It made her grin to picture a Norse god playing around on the internet. She should introduce him to twitter! Oh wait, that could only end in disaster.

The waitress came around and got drink orders for them, with Erik ordering them all something called 'boilermakers.' Darcy admittedly had no idea what the hell that was, but she usually stuck to either beer or simply cocktails of some kind that tasted like kool aid. Still, what was brought around looked mostly like a beer, so she rolled with it.

OoOoOoOo

Loki hadn't wanted to participate in this night of drinking, as, while he felt almost comfortable around Darcy, the other mortals of this realm had yet to impress him. However, Darcy had a point in one of the things she mentioned to him: he liked her. When she wasn't paying attention, she could actually be a witty and charming individual, although she was horrendously naive. He could only assume that the ones called Jane and Erik protected this girl somewhat. The fact that she had picked him up off the road and then seemed to want to keep him around showed that she knew little about the world.

He had promised his brother that, when he was done, he would pay Jane a visit, but he hadn't planned on it being in a bar with her assistant and...whatever Erik Selvig was to them. He wasn't terribly sure. This had not been what he had in mind when he said that.

He wasn't terribly sure what these 'boilermakers' were made of, either, but they packed a hard punch for something that a Midgardian had come up with. He still wasn't terribly affected by them. Jane had nursed one while Erik had two while they talked, but it seemed that Darcy had gotten a little carried away. She was on her third one when she started to slump against him in the booth. When Loki tried to cut her off, she had simply stolen his drink. Darcy was crafty when she wasn't trying, or he was just a little off guard because he'd had three of the damn drinks himself.

When Darcy started loudly to sing some song, Loki realized that it was time to go. "Well, it's been fun getting to know you both," Loki said to them, sliding out of the booth. "But I think Darcy has had a little too much to drink tonight, and I should be a decent gentleman and take her home."

He tried to get Darcy to help herself out of the booth, but, as soon as he had her standing, her legs went right out from under her, and he had to pick her up and cradle her in his arms. "She's certainly had too much to drink," Loki stated, trying not to laugh at the young woman who immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his neck.

"Make sure that you get her home safe," Erik told him, looking at him sternly. Then the man smiled at him. "Thank the gods that she doesn't have to be at work tomorrow, right?"

Loki nodded, bidding Erik and Jane both farewell before carrying Darcy out of the bar. They had walked to the bar, as Darcy's apartment wasn't too far away. It didn't take him long to get to her home, fishing her keys out of her purse and unlocking the door. He set her down on the sofa so that he could lock the door, but, as soon as he was turning around from that, it appeared that Darcy had regained her ability to walk, as she had somehow made her way over to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"Have I told you that I _love_ that shirt on you?" she asked, turning her eyes up to look at him. His mouth went dry when her tongue peeked out, wetting her bottom lip. "Because you look positively delicious in it. I could eat you up with a spoon," she drawled.

"You need to go to bed and sleep this off," Loki told her, his breath coming out in short gasps. He couldn't even remember the last time that he'd been with a woman. That had to be why this was affecting him so much. That had to be it.

"Go to bed? Is that an invitation?" she asked, leaning up on her toes and running the tip of that infernal tongue along the side of his neck.

"No, it was not," he protested, pushing her away. "And if you won't go yourself, then I will simply have to make you go to bed." Moreover, be far away from him. He couldn't think straight with her pressed against him like that.

When she started to argue again, he picked her up, lifting her up and over his shoulder. He kicked open the door to her bedroom, fully intent upon dumping her on the bed and then running back to the living room. There was a misstep in his plan, though. When he tried to deposit her on the bed, she grabbed a hold of his shirt, pulling him down with her. Before he had the chance to pull away, she tugged him closer, pressing her full, warm lips against his.

He froze for a split second, not kissing her back but not pulling away yet, and that seemed to be all the time that she needed, rolling them both over until she was on top of him, straddling his hips. With a warm, rather attractive woman moving against him, he got a little weak. They were still kissing, and now he was kissing her back, holding her flush against him.

It took him a few moments to come back to himself, snapping back to attention and breaking their lips apart. Her lipstick had smeared, and he realized that he likely had it all over his lips now as well, and she had a questioning look on her face. "Why'd you stop?" she asked, breathing hard.

"You're drunk, Darcy," he said to her, somehow managing to push her away and disentangle himself from her, moving to the side of the bed. "You're very drunk, and not in charge of your faculties, and this wouldn't be right." She tried to pull him back and he gently yet firmly removed her hands from him again. "You wouldn't forgive me for taking advantage of the situation."

Whether he stunned her or simply seemed to agree, she stopped trying to pull him back, and he got up off the bed and all but ran from the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: 

When Darcy first felt the rays of the sun peeking into her eyes, she groaned, rolling over on the bed and putting a pillow over her head. She felt horrid and hung over. She should have stopped after the second drink last night, and _definitely_ shouldn't have stolen Loki's.

She groaned again when she thought about Loki. God, she had practically sexually assaulted him last night, hadn't she? That was embarrassing. It wasn't the first time she had gotten drunk and thrown herself at a guy, but it was likely the first time that they had refused. It wasn't just that he simply didn't want her. He kissed her back, and she could feel him at least physically enjoying it. She couldn't quite remember what he had said when he finally pushed her off. Something about it wouldn't be right.

She'd love to hide away in her bedroom all day, but she eventually needed at least to get some water. She got dressed, taking a moment to wipe off the remnants of her makeup from the night before. She peeked out the door, wondering if Loki was even around, only to see him just coming back inside the door with bags in his hands. "Hey," she said, still mostly only peeking her head out of the door. "Please tell me that's food."

He nodded, smiling at her. "It is. I got it from the diner that you seem to like to frequent," he told her. "I'm not exactly much of a cook, and I did not think that you would be up to making breakfast, either."

She shook her head, moving out of the room finally. "Definitely not up to cooking," she said, taking one of the bags so that she could look into it. "Where'd you get the money for this?"

"I might have borrowed it from your wallet," he admitted to her, setting the other bag on her kitchen table. "Is your middle name really _Eugenia_?"

She picked up a pillow from her sofa and threw it at Loki, but he easily ducked it. "Bad Loki! We don't go into people purses, and we especially don't look at their driver's licenses and look at their awful middle names that they got from their fathers!" Her mother had thought it would be sweet to name her after her father, Eugene, but she'd always hated it.

"It was either go in your purse for money or you'd have to deal with me trying to make food," Loki reminded her.

"Is it sad that I'm far more bothered by the fact that you know my middle name then you went in my purse for money?" Darcy asked him with a laugh.

"That is highly likely," Loki remarked. She made a face at him and made to throw another pillow at him. "If you throw that, I'm going to eat all the pancakes I bought."

She glared at him, putting the pillow down. "Fine, I won't throw anything at you until after we're done with breakfast," she said with a grin.

Soon, Loki was pulling the food out of the bags and spreading it over the table. He had basically gotten one of the giant breakfast platter, including pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. She went and grabbed them plates, and soon they were putting together breakfast for the both of them.

After they settled in, Loki started to speak again. "How much exactly do you remember of last night?" he asked her.

Darcy couldn't help the blush from creeping across her face. "Ah, most of it, honestly," she admitted to him. "I remember totally throwing myself at you...and then I remember you actually being a gentleman about it."

"It was the right thing to do, Darcy," Loki explained quickly, although she could see some red creeping into his cheeks as well.

"Yeah well, not everyone would agree with you," she said with a shrug. Drunken hook ups were kind of a rite of passage in college. She didn't necessarily see them as a bad thing or a good thing. Just something that went on in college.

"So, this happens a lot here?" he asked, seemingly now wanting to know.

"Well...it's kind of a thing in college, you know, that thing we lied about you attending with me? People drink a lot and then sometimes hook up with one another," she explained. She was trying to explain this in a delicate way, but, by the way that he was still blushing, Darcy doubted that she was doing that very well. "I mean, most men here would be perfectly happy to have a good time with me and then disappear in the morning. It's just a thing here." She sighed. "It would take a guy from another planet to actually be a decent human being, and you even tried to kill everyone in this town. What does that say for all the other guys that I've met? You'd be like, the perfect guy if I could just tell other people who you actually are!"

It was the way that he was looking at her that made her realize that she said the last part aloud. She couldn't even describe how he was even looking at her right now. Blushing heavily, she jumped up from her seat and bolted to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Darcy admittedly hadn't even realized just how much she was attracted to Loki, at least physically. She had been willing to chalk up last night to having way too much to drink, but apparently it had just lowered her inhibitions enough to act on latent desires. It didn't help at all that, when he wasn't all pissed off about something, he could actually be a pretty decent guy as well. He seemed a lot more chivalrous than many of the guys she had ever met before.

She sincerely thought that all of this was going to drive her insane. Something was wrong with this. She shouldn't be feeling this way about Loki. He was still the crazy semi-genocidal guy who had tried to level the town she lived in! Did it make him exceptionally good that he still tended to shine through all of that or did it make the guys on Earth exceptionally bad? Darcy honestly had no clue.

Whatever it was, what Darcy really hoped for was that she would one day learn to shut her damn mouth! Although right now, being able to sink into the floor and never exist again would work. Non existence would be wonderful.

Before she could figure out the key to non existence, there was a knock on her door. The only person that it could be was Loki, and that was confirmed when she heard his voice. "Darcy? Can we talk please?" she heard him say. Darcy wondered if she could run away through the window, but she had a distinct feeling that Loki would just be on the other side of the window if she tried that. She really needed to be an adult and just talk to him. Being an adult sucked hard.

"Give me a sec," she said through the door, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself down. Finally, she opened the door, looking up at his concerned face.

"Why did you run away like that?" he asked her.

She sighed, biting down on her bottom lip. "I did the word vomit thing," she told him. "Sometimes, I say stuff that really should only stick around in my head and not out in the open." She looked down at the floor, hoping that her hair covered up the almost painful blush that was covering her cheeks at the moment.

"Was it true?" Loki asked her, catching her by surprise.

"Uh...which part?" she asked him, keeping her eyes on the ground. God it was way too hard to look him in the eye right now.

"All of it," he explained, "but especially the part about the men you know spending the night with you and disappearing as soon as the sun rises."

"Well, yeah, that's definitely true," she said quickly. "I've never really been known for my good luck in dating, you know." Actually, Darcy had some painfully bad luck that made her go way past Jane's dry spell.

Before she could protest or move away, he stepped forward, coming into her bedroom. He reached down, brushing the hair out of her face and tilting her head up, making her look up at him. "How stupid are the boys of this realm that they would abandon a sweet, caring, and beautiful woman such as you?" he asked, smiling at her.

God, if she blushed any more, she was going to spontaneously combust! "You've got to be talking about someone else, because I don't even know anyone like that," she said quickly.

"You are the one who picked up a stranger off the road who fell from the sky and still helped him when you discovered just who I was," Loki reminded her.

"Yeah well, everyone deserves to have someone helping them," she told him. He nodded, dipping his head down and pressing his lips against hers.

Darcy whimpered, as she hadn't expected this to happen at all. She had just kind of humiliated herself in front of him, but now she's got Loki pressed up against her, kissing her, and she felt his arms wrapping around her body. She let out another whimper, reaching up and digging her fingers into his shirt. As the kiss deepened, her whimpers started to turn into moans, and she managed to stop digging her fingers into his shirt and move her hands so that she had her arms wrapped around his neck. The only thing that was really keeping her standing at this point was Loki and only Loki. Without him, she was pretty sure that she would sink to the ground in a puddle of goo.

It was nothing short of a miracle that Darcy hadn't already turned around and shoved Loki down on her bed and just completely had her way with him. One thing that was holding her back is that she's wondering if things are going too fast, even as she was grazing her teeth over his bottom lip.

Just as her resolve was breaking and she was ready to throw him on the bed and ravish him, he broke the kiss, stopping as if he were thinking about something. When she was about to ask what was wrong, he pressed a finger to her lips, and damn if she didn't want to take that finger into her mouth and suck on it.

"Someone's at your door," he said to her. When she was about to ask him how he knew about that, she hears a knocking and can hear Jane's voice calling out on the other side.

"Oh my god," she grumbled, leaning her head against his chest for a moment. "Jane really does have piss poor timing."

Darcy actually thought about not answering the door. She thought that maybe if she pretended to be sleeping off a hangover, she could get away with it. However, she knew that would just freak out Jane and Erik and they'd go nuts with trying to get in contact with her, so that really wasn't a possibility. Finally, she called out to the door that she'd be there in a minute, forcing herself to pull away from Loki when all she really wanted to do was lock herself in the bedroom with him. That actually sounded like a fantastic plan to her.

She trudged up to the front door, opening it up to see both Erik and Jane behind it. "Can I help you guys?" she asked after staring at them for a moment.

"Well, we wanted to come over and check on both of you after last night," Jane explained. "You got pretty wasted."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "I'm fine guys. Jeremy's been a real peach and went and got me some breakfast," she explained. She wanted to snap at them that they were now preventing her from getting laid, but that just sounded like a terrible idea to say. "We're both doing pretty good."

"We just wanted to make sure," Erik said, seemingly trying to peak over her shoulder. All that he would likely see was the half finished breakfast on her table.

"Awesome. Thanks guys," Darcy said quickly. "You mind if I go crash again? Even with breakfast, I'm still dying to go crash again." Well, it wasn't a total lie. She did want to go and get in a bed. She just wasn't mentioning that she was going to be joined in that bed by someone and she wouldn't be doing a whole lot of sleeping.

They both nodded and, after saying goodbyes, she shut the door again. Before she could turn around and go find Loki, she felt arms circling her waist and firm lips pressed up against her neck. "Are they gone now?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're gone," she said, sighing softly as she felt teeth scraping across her neck. She started twisting, moving around so that she could turn and look at him. "We're good now," she said, pulling him down and bring his lips to hers for another kiss. His arms tightened around her back, and, before she even realized it, she could feel the back of her calves hitting the edge of her bed. She had no idea if he teleported them there or if she was just so lost in the kiss that she couldn't pay attention to what was going on around her, but she's more than happy to be there again.

Sinking down onto the bed, she pulled him down with her, gripping his shirt and tugging it off as she did so. Before he can say anything, she pressed her mouth against his chest, moving her mouth down it in a series of kisses. She's glad that the bruises have healed on him, so that now all she can see is his alabaster skin and his tight muscles. She can't help herself from running her tongue over the muscles over his hips. She always did love it when a guy had those. His hips bucked under her when she did that, and she made a mental note that it seemed to be a sensitive spot.

She was feeling a little too impatient to focus on anything like that, though. She unbuttoned the jeans that he had on, and they happened to be a button fly pair and she couldn't help but think of this as unwrapping a present on Christmas morning. When she had them undone, she tugged them off, managing to get them down to his ankles before she lost patience again and left them there, moving back up and grabbing his cock, smiling as she heard him moan as soon as she touched it. Looked like she wasn't the only one eager for this.

She wrapped her hand fully around his cock and started to move it up and down, pumping it to make sure that he was fully hard (although that wasn't tough to do at all) before dropping her head down to his lap, dragging her tongue over the head of his cock. His hip arched up and she couldn't help but let out a giggle, enjoying seeing how easy it was to make him come undone like this. She ran her tongue up his shaft before taking him into her mouth, groaning loudly herself as she felt herself getting wetter. She had a bit of an oral fixation herself, so giving head was one of her favorite things to do.

Even as she was enjoying herself, moving her head up and down his cock as she sucked him off, she heard him trying to say her name, to catch her attention. He finally made her stop, sitting up slightly and pushing her up. Before she could whine and make him let her finish, he rolled them over, managing to finish kicking off his jeans in the process. He started pulling off her clothes, kicking her glasses askew when he pulled her shirt over her head. She was glad that she had worn a bra with a hook in the front, because he had it opened quickly and his mouth was against her breasts, pressing sloppy kisses against them. He sucked one of her nipples into her mouth, and she lost the ability for coherent speech, babbling incoherently as tongue and teeth moved over her nipple, arching up against him.

She can feel him unzipping her jeans as he's busy with her breasts. His hand then slid into her jeans, past her underwear, and suddenly one of his fingers is rubbing across her clit and she's seeing stars in her eyes. All of the light teasing he's doing down there was driving her absolutely mad, and she was about to tell him so when he stopped, reaching for the waistband of her jeans and dragging them down along with her underwear.

Soon her jeans are off and tossed away, and he was pushing her legs apart, kissing down her stomach before he ran his tongue down her mound and dipped it just inside her slit. She let out a high pitched cry when she felt his tongue inside of her. She let out a litany of swears when his tongue started to move inside of her, either flicking over her clit or thrusting in and out of her. As fantastic as he was at this, it was still teasing compared to what she really wanted.

She grabbed him by his hair, tugging on him until he moved up to her face. She kissed him, not minding the taste of herself on his lips. "Loki," she gasped. "Please just fuck me already."

"Well," he said with a laugh, moving slightly and she can feel his cock pressing against her entrance, "since you asked so nicely..." He pushed himself inside of her and he slid in. She groaned loudly as he pushed himself in up to his hips, her hands moving around his back as she held onto him.

As he started to move, she held on, her hips moving up to meet his as she slowly moved in and out of her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, the heels of her feet digging into his ass as she urged him on, just somehow wanting all of him to be a part of her right now. He felt so good inside of her that she wondered if she'd ever really get enough.

Eventually, him slowly fucking her and the feeling of his chest moving against hers was just too much for her, and she screamed out his name as she came, tightening up all around him. She felt him shudder on top of her and, moaning out her name, he exploded inside of her as well.

She held onto him, dragging her nails down his back, feeling more sexually sated than she ever had before in her life. After a few minutes, he moved off her, lying down beside her and pulling her closer. She laid her head on his chest, shutting her eyes as she felt him tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

The two of them dozed for ten or twenty minutes, but eventually she knew that she was going to have to ruin the moment, at least a little bit. Opening her eyes, she turned her head up toward his, realizing that he had been staring down at her. "I think we need to tell the others who you really are," she said to him.

He frowned, but he didn't pull away from her, so she considered that a good thing. "I could just keep pretending to be your friend from school," he said to her.

"Trying to take the easy way out just usually ends up blowing up in your face," she explained to him. "Something is going to give us away eventually, you know." She was relieved when he nodded. "Besides, really not fair to lie to everyone, especially if what we did is going to end up happening again." God she hoped that it happened again.

He smiled at her. "I do want it to happen again," he said to her, moving down and kissing her again. That was a good way to make her forget about what she was talking about, but he broke it off before they got too carried away. "It would be quite easy to just step into this 'Jeremy' friend from college and just be him," he admitted, pressing his lips to her temple. "You're right, though. It is likely to lead to some sort of complication."

"Well, it's usually the complicated stuff that's worth dealing with," Darcy told him, wrapping her arm around his waist. "It's going to be OK. You just got to trust me on this."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: 

The next day, Darcy decided to get it over with and start telling people the truth. Of course, she had only technically lied to two people, but they were two very important people to her. She figured that it would be easier to explain to Jane first, as Jane would understand falling for someone that, in some ways, you kind of barely knew, especially when you first met them by having them fall from the sky in front of your car.

She made Loki hang in her bedroom and left him Baker for company, then called Jane and asked her to come over. Darcy jolted when she heard Jane knocking at her door, jumping up to answer it.

She smiled at Jane when she opened the door. "Well, you look a lot better than yesterday," Jane commented, smiling at her.

"Trust me, I **feel** a lot better," Darcy admitted with a smile. Of course, she was still incredibly nervous about telling Jane the truth, but resolved sexual tension will do a lot for a girl's nerves. "But, there's something that I got to tell you about Jeremy," she went on. "He's...not named Jeremy and he's not from Arizona State. He's actually Thor's brother, Loki, and he fell out of the sky in front of the car the last time I went and got groceries and he's actually a really nice guy and OK I might have slept with him yesterday." Like, three times overall, but she didn't want just to throw that in as well.

Jane's eyes went wide when her brain caught up with the verbal diarrhea that Darcy was spewing forth. "Darcy!" she exclaimed, hitting Darcy on the shoulder, although Jane couldn't hurt a flea with her hands, so it barely even stung. "Is he really Loki? If he is, he's dangerous! What are you thinking?"

"Honestly, been wondering that a bit myself," Darcy admitted. "I think he just...went crazy for a little while." While they were in bed yesterday, Loki had explained himself a lot more to Darcy, being far more open with her. "He's got this...jealousy thing with Thor, and then he found out he was adopted right after Thor was banished. If you were this ancient god alien person, and then found out you were adopted after always feeling like you were treated second best, wouldn't _you_ go a little batshit?" When Jane finally nodded, Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. "He's...he's OK now. I might take a guy in to help when he's still a little crazy, but I really wouldn't sleep with a guy who I thought might kill me, OK?"

Jane nodded again. "Alright, alright," she said. Darcy was glad that, deep down, Jane seemed to trust her. "Where is he?"

Darcy tilted her head back toward the bedroom door. "I think you can come out now!" she called out, smiling with Loki peaked his head out the door. Barker ran out, jumping all over Jane, happy to be allowed to investigate the new person in the apartment.

"You really don't look like an angry Norse god when you're wearing a t-shirt and jeans like that," Jane remarked as Loki stepped further out. Darcy knew that Loki was insanely old, but he really only looked about Jane's age, especially when he was dressed like that. Utterly gorgeous, but certainly not that old.

"Well, I'm not nearly as angry as I was," he admitted. "I actually wanted to make you an offer. I am still not...exactly in a hurry to meet my family again, but I understand that you wish to meet Thor again. I think I can help you create a path back to Asgard. It would not be exactly along the lines of the bridge that was there, but I believe that I can get you there."

When Darcy saw Jane's face break into a wide grin, she knew that she truly had Jane on her side now. If he was willingly helping her get back to Thor, then Jane was totally sold. "I knew that you were way too hot and cultured to come out of Arizona State," Jane joked.

"Hey! I resent that!" Darcy snapped, but she couldn't help but laugh. She was just relieved that this talk had gone well. Now she just had to deal with Erik, who couldn't be slightly bribed with the idea of getting back to Thor. Oh boy.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy actually didn't talk to Erik until Monday, and he wasn't nearly as easy to convince as Jane had been. Of course, no bribery with a strong, blond Norse god, so Darcy hadn't expected him to be as easy to deal with. Still, now she had Jane on her side, so that helped. Eventually, Loki of all people came up with an idea that helped Erik adjust. Loki started to help out with the cleanup of the town. He had created the mess, and, if he was really sorry for it, then he could help them clean things up. It made sense to Darcy, and, more importantly, it made sense to Erik.

Darcy's not surprised that, when Loki is around, Erik keeps a tight eye on him, but he wouldn't be Erik if he didn't do that. It took him a little bit to warm up to Thor, after all, and Thor had just fallen from the sky. Of course, Erik had thought that Thor was either a con man or simply crazy. Loki had proven himself to be dangerous in the past.

The trust that was missing seems slowly to develop in the next few weeks while they work on making a path to Asgard. Everyone is working double time to get this going, plus Loki is both helping with clean up around town and learning astrophysics so that he can understand just what Jane is talking about.

Yet Loki and Darcy STILL managed to find time to sneak off and have some special private moments together. She loved that they were all able to work together now. Erik had to chase them out of closets and once off the roof when they got a little too carried away with one another. Well, that was when he caught them, anyway! They managed to have a good bit of fun when he wasn't around to find them.

It took a little while, but they (mostly Loki and Jane, really) managed to come up with a little device that would allow for them to make the trip to Asgard and back. Darcy admittedly didn't know how the hell the damn thing worked, but according to them, it would.

Now, the question was who was going to use it and go?

"You should all let me go," Loki said. They were all gathered around a table in the diner, with the little device sitting in the middle of it. It was three in the morning, and they were all gathered around cups of coffee. They had just finished the thing, and no one even wanted to wait for a night's sleep before trying it out. "I'm the one most likely to survive the trip if something goes wrong."

"Yeah well, what if it goes right, you end up on Asgard, and everyone there just tries to kill you?" Darcy asked him. "Seriously, there's no way in hell that we're letting you do this by yourself, Loki." She really had no intention of just setting up something of a relationship with him only for him to be killed on Asgard.

Before he could argue with her, Jane chimed in. "Plus, I helped make this thing so I could get to Asgard and see Thor!" she told him. "Do you really think that I would allow for anyone to go there without me?"

"And I have to make sure that the two of them don't get themselves killed," Erik explained. "Don't try arguing with them. They're both rather stubborn."

"Something that I'm starting to learn," Loki said with a roll of his eyes.

"OK, you totally had to know that like, five minutes after meeting me," Darcy said with a grin. "Plus, all girls are totally stubborn."

Loki sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Then let's do this before I change my mind," he said.

They finished their coffee and left the diner. Darcy already had one of her neighbors dog-sitting Baker, so she didn't have to worry about him. They decided to head out into the desert, finding the spot that had been left in the desert, the Norse markings still burned into the desert sands. They had all figured that, if the thing just blew up or something, they should be as far from the city as they could get.

Standing on the markings, they all linked hands, hoping that this would help keep them together and not lose one of them on Mars or something. "Is everyone ready?" Jane asked, holding the device in her free hand.

"As ready as we'll ever be. Let's do this already!" Darcy yelled. She was ready to either be blown up or show up on Asgard already. It was the suspense that was going to kill her, she was certain.

"Didn't you once claim that you weren't going to die for six credits?" Erik asked as Jane started the device.

"Yeah well, now I'm emotionally invested," Darcy replied, smiling up at Loki. He looked like he wanted to say something back, but then the device started working and it felt like everything both expanded and then contracted, which Darcy only HOPED meant that they were being transported to Asgard.

OoOoOoOo

When Darcy felt ground underneath her again, the first thing she did was sink to the ground, trying to keep herself from throwing up all over everything and everyone. "I think I might have left my stomach on Jupiter," she said, sticking her head between her knees to keep herself from puking everywhere. She could hear Erik throwing up near her, so at least she wasn't the worst one off.

She could feel Loki's cool hand on the back of her neck. "We are on Asgard, thankfully," he said to her. "It appears we landed in one of the outlying forests."

"Honestly, I'm just glad that we ended up on Asgard at all," Darcy heard Jane say. She was sure that the scientist was already looking around, wanting to take samples of every plant that she saw. She might technically be an astrophysicist, but Jane was interested in all sorts of scientific things. "Playing the human and Asgardian guinea pigs wasn't exactly the brightest of plans."

"Yeah well, you just want some Thor ass and was desperate enough to risk it," Darcy said with a grin, letting Loki help her up off the ground.

"If anyone mentions my brother's ass again I'm going to start throwing up," Loki snapped.

"I'd like to second that," Erik said, wiping his mouth. "Did anyone happy to bring any tic tacs?"

Before Darcy could dig in her pockets for the gum she usually had on her, she heard a rustling in the bushes. She felt Loki tense up beside her, but, before anyone could do anything, what looked to be palace guards were surrounding them, circling them with spears raised.

Right as a scream starts to pull itself out from Darcy, she heard Loki yell something that sounded vaguely Scandinavian, and the guards lowered their weapons, motioning for all of them to follow along.

"What did you just say?" Erik asked.

"I requested an audience with the Allfather that cannot be refused," Loki explained. "If you know the specific words to say, they will take you without killing you on sight."

"Jesus Christ, you totally just invoked parley, didn't you?" Darcy asked, a nervous giggle bubbling up. When everyone looked at her as if she was a nut, she sighed. "Dude, am I the _only_ one who watched 'Pirates of the Caribbean'?" she asked. "You guys are a bunch of philistines," she grumbled when she got no answer.

OoOoOoOo

Loki had expected something like this to happen. He wouldn't be shocked by the idea that security had tightened around Asgard because he had let Frost Giants into the place twice. He was glad that the ancient words had not been adjusted in any way. Then again, maybe the guards simply recognized him and there was some sort of protocol for if he were spotted. If that were the case, they likely were not expecting him to bring anyone with him, much less humans. He hadn't exactly wanted to, but they had all argued with him. He didn't really have the heart to fight them.

They were brought before the throne, were Odin was sitting. Loki spotted his mother and Thor standing beside the throne. As soon as the guards left them alone, Jane broke from the crowd, even as Erik tried to catch her. She made her way to Thor, who catches her and swings her around. Loki understood that this was a reunion that was months in the making.

"Would everyone please contain themselves?" Odin bellowed, standing up from his throne. He turned his eyes toward Loki, and Loki had to admit that he felt relieved when he felt Darcy reach over and grab his hand. "How did you manage to survive the fall from the bifrost?"

"Well, with lots of bruises and broken bones that kind of only healed recently," Darcy blurted out, and Loki had to fight the urge to reach over and cover her mouth. He cannot help but notice his mother's mouth slightly turn up at the corners when Darcy says that, so he hopes that Darcy didn't horribly offend his father in some way.

Odin turned toward Darcy. "Are you the one that found him?" he asked her.

"Oh yeah, he dropped out of a hole in the sky in front of my car all unconscious and I took him back to my apartment, kind of like a stray cat but he's WAY better than some smelly old cat who sheds all over my furniture," Darcy blurted out.

"This woman is going to be the death of me," Loki muttered, his free hand reaching up and pinching the bridge of his nose. He watched Darcy bite down on her bottom lip to keep herself from giggling.

"How did you manage to get here?" Thor interrupted, and Loki realized that he actually had missed his brother's voice, even if the man had never understood that certain volumes were not meant for indoors. "The bifrost was destroyed. We are trying to repair it, but it hasn't been finished yet."

Both Jane and Erik launch into some overly scientific explanation. He watched as his mother walked down from behind the throne, moving closer to him and Darcy. "Are the two of you friends?" she asked Loki.

Loki realized that the voices had quieted and all eyes had turned back toward them. He felt like Darcy was holding onto his hand for dear life. "It's a bit more than that, Mother," Loki said to her. "We're...together."

"Yeah, we're kind of dating," Darcy agreed, smiling as she looked over at him. They had yet to put any sort of label on their relationship, but he had watched plenty of television and absorbed a lot of Midgardian culture. He supposed that was a good word for them, dating.

As his mother smiled, the room erupted into a chaotic cacophony of talking again. He could hear Thor and Jane talking to one another, catching up on what had happened to the both of them since they had last seen each other. His mother started to ask Darcy all sorts of questions about her past and her family, and Loki can see that poor Erik is just standing there, looking quite lost. After what seems like ages, he hears his father's voice call out over all of them, asking them to cease.

Odin walked up to Loki as everyone quiets down, and Loki actually tries to pull away from Darcy, half expecting his father to strike him down for what he had done before. However, she seems either unable or unwilling to let go of his hand, and seems to tighten her grip. His father surprised him, though. When the elder man reached Loki, he wrapped him in a bear hug that was very reminiscent of how Thor hugged people.

"I am so _relieved_ to have both of my sons back home," Odin said as he held Loki.

"I appreciate the sentiment, father, but I need to breathe," Loki wheezed, and his father let him go, laughing. When Loki caught his breath, he asked, "You still consider me a son after all I have done? Why?"

"Simply because you **are**, Loki," Odin explained, and the room exploded into another burst of chatter.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy couldn't help but feel like this was all a whirlwind. It seemed like so much happened during their first day in Asgard. Odin made an announcement that, for one, Loki was alive, and two, his actions against Jotunheim were going to be treated as the actions of a king during a war. Thor had killed hundreds, been banished, and then forgiven, and Loki's time on earth (plus the healing that it took after falling from the bifrost) were being treated as a similar punishment for his actions against Thor and Heimdall (the giant of a man who watched over the bifrost and supposedly saw everything that went on around him, which just made Darcy's mind scream perv).

Darcy doubted that everyone was happy with that announcement, but it's kind of hard to argue with a king, especially one as imposing as Odin. She could see how everyone found it so easy to follow whatever that man said. Plus, Loki was eventually going to come back to Asgard to help rebuild the bifrost thing, so they would able to get back and forth a lot easier and more trustworthy than the device that they had kind of cobbled together. It would work well enough in the time being, though.

For now, though, they were all getting ready for the trip back to Earth. Both Loki and Thor were coming back this time, so that Jane could get her Thor!time and everything. No one had a chance to be alone here so far, so there was no private time to be had. Odin and Frigga give them a proper goodbye (Darcy thought that she was going to die from all the questions that Frigga asked her, but she kind of got it, since Loki was her _baby_ and all).

When they arrived back on Earth, she could hear Erik throwing up again. She knew that, on the next trip that was coming, he would likely not be coming along. "Is this always going to be so barf inducing?" Darcy asked Loki.

"You eventually get used to it," Loki explained to her as they started to head back toward town. They had only been gone about a day for Earth time as well, thankfully.

"What makes you think I'm going to be going back and forth enough to get used to it?" Darcy asked him, grinning up at him.

"Well, if we really are 'dating,' as you described it, we'll need to introduce you to court, and there are all sorts of protocols for being attached to a prince such as I," Loki said with a smirk. "Thor, what all are they?"

As Thor started to list off all sorts of things, Darcy just kept grinning, stopping long enough to grab Loki by the collar of his shirt. "You're lucky I like you, you know that?" she asked, pulling him down for a kiss.

THE END


End file.
